Fiat justitia, ruat coelum.

Track opens indoor season

Photo courtesy of goxavier.com | The Xavier men’s and women’s track teams had their first indoor meet of the season last weekend at the Mastodon Opener in Fort Wayne, Ind. The Musketeers came away with five first-place finishes from the event.

Both the Xavier men’s and women’s track teams opened their winter indoor seasons at the Mastodon Opener last weekend.

The event was held in Fort Wayne, Ind., at the Athletic Center Fieldhouse. The Musketeers were able to post five first-place finishers over the weekend, three on the men’s side and two on the women’s side.

Upperclassmen led the way throughout the weekend with all first-place finishers being experienced runners for the Xavier team. Junior Chris Taylor placed first in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.04 seconds. Two long distance runners were able to follow up Taylor’s performance with first-place finishes.

Junior Grant Stapleton finished first in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.57, and junior Grayson Jenkins took home the 3000-meter run with a time of 8:56.75.

On the women’s side, the Musketeers also had an impressive weekend with two first-place finishes by upperclassmen.

Junior Kaitlyn Magrane tallied a time of 26.68 seconds in the 200-meter dash. On the distance side, senior Sarah Clark was victorious in the one-mile run with a time of 5:23.21.

Other Xavier athletes, such as sophomore Jane Onders and senior Brooke Hines, also had good starts to their season by placing third in their respective distance races.

Xavier head track coach Ryan Orner was not completely satisfied with the team’s performance, even with several first-place finishers.

He asserted that both the men’s and the women’s teams have “a lot of work to do” in preparation for the upcoming indoor season.

Xavier will return to action on Jan. 12-13 at the Kentucky invitational in Lexington, Ky. The team hopes to learn from opening weekend competition and continue to improve as the season progresses.